Newspapers, Rockstars & Ordinary People

Day 20

“The soul never takes birth and never dies, nor having once been, does it ever cease to be. The soul is birthless, eternal, imperishable and timeless, and is never destroyed when the body is destroyed.”

– Lord Krishna, Bhagavad Gita

When I moved to California many years ago, a hummingbird started showing up on my balcony, it would hover around and stay for a particularly long time. It came so frequently that I felt it was a sign that the bird was my guardian angel. This was long before I’d ever heard the term spirit guide.

Ever since California, no matter where I live, a hummingbird has shown up on my balcony every once in a while. I’ve always wondered if it was my California bird. I haven’t seen my little bird in a long time, and today a hummingbird showed up on my balcony. I’m not really sure what it means, except that I know the bird came for me.

Last night as I was getting ready for bed, I made a mental note to change the cover photo on my dad’s memorial Facebook page today. When I woke up this morning, I had a message from a friend telling me his father had recently passed, and when I logged on to FB, I saw that a friend’s mother had also passed on. With the recent news of David Bowie and Glenn Frey on people’s minds, I knew I had to address the topic of death today. No sooner had I decided that I would address the afterlife in today’s post, than I learned that my nephew had written an article that was featured on the front page of his university newspaper, about the death of traditional print journalism. Hmm. What is the message I am being asked to give? It’s clear that my thoughts have attracted all these bits of information into my consciousness. Is my bird telling me to share a positive message about the circle of life? The synchronicity is hard to miss.

How do I deliver a positive message about something so indescribable, something as individual as the person affected by it, something so mysterious that it has been written about since time immemorial, and yet, we still don’t know it.

Or do we? Hinduism and the law of attraction teach that the soul is eternal, that the true self is consciousness, and our bodies are merely a physical expression of our spiritual beings. So what can I possibly say to make the pain of losing a loved one positive?

I can tell you that since my father left his physical form in 2009, I still talk to him everyday. And sometimes I feel his answer. Not like I know what he would have said, but that he is actually communicating with me in a way that I can’t describe, but I just know he is. Sometimes, there are signs. A certain fragrance in the air or a familiar sound. Sometimes my phone will randomly start playing a song that I only associate with him.

So, I say to you, celebrate the life that you loved, share your memories, keep the conversation going, and keep your eyes open for your own little bird.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!